Leeds Manager Gets Honest, Says Premier League Is Unfair Due To The Lack Of A U.S.-Style Salary Cap

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About the only thing that's fair about the Premier League is that each team plays with the same round ball. Outside of that, nothing else about the Prem is done on a completely even playing field.

This isn't some new phenomenon that was recently discovered. The most casual soccer fan knows the Premier League isn't fair given the simple fact that certain clubs have much larger budgets than others.

However, it's not too often you hear managers in the league talk about how unfair things truly are as openly as Jesse Marsch recently did.

Marsch, the former MLS player turned Leeds United manager, shared his honest comments about the way the Prem and other European soccer leagues don't have salary caps therefore it makes it nearly impossible for smaller clubs to even compete.

"We all know in this world of football it's something that's different from American sports," Marsch said. "We have salary caps and everyone has a chance when the season starts. I'm sorry, but the way European football works, that's just not the case.

Leeds United manager, American Jesse Marsch, gets honest about how unfair the Premier League truly is. (Photo by George Wood/Getty Images)

Marsch didn't stop with the honesty there. While Leeds is a club rich with history, tradition, and a global fanbase, that doesn't mean it can compete with clubs that have much deeper pockets.

"I would love to say we want to win every match and we are in a position to do that. But we know we are in the reality of who we are right now that that is not realistic," Marsch said.

The Rich And The Poor Of The Premier League

Marsch's comments about the unfairness in the Premier League come as his team gets set to take on Newcastle on Saturday.

A Saudi Arabian group recently took over Newcastle, a club that hasn't been relevant in the Premier League in a decade, and the team's fortune (no pun intended) has changed almost immediately.

Newcastle has made nine new player signings since the new ownership group took over in October 2021 and currently sits third in the league table 16 games into the season. This is a Newcastle club that was relegated six years ago and hasn't finished better than 10th in the Premier League since the 2011-12 campaign.

On one hand, the uneven playing field is what makes the Premier League so special.

Fans who support a small, low-budget club may not be as happy as Manchester City or Liverpool supporters, but when that small club does make noise in the league it makes it that much sweeter. It's a big reason why Leicester City's title in 2016 was such a special, and improbable story.

On the flip side, supporters of the richest clubs in the league get to appreciate the fortune of not stressing all too often about the club's current or future state.

The moral of the story here is, like life, the Premier League simply is not fair.

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Mark covers all sports at OutKick while keeping a close eye on the PGA Tour, LIV Golf, and all other happenings in the world of golf. He graduated from the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga before earning his master's degree in journalism from the University of Tennessee. He somehow survived living in Knoxville despite ‘Rocky Top’ being his least favorite song ever written. Before joining OutKick, he wrote for various outlets including SB Nation, The Spun, and BroBible. Mark was also a writer for the Chicago Cubs Double-A affiliate in 2016 when the team won the World Series. He's still waiting for his championship ring to arrive. Follow him on Twitter @itismarkharris.